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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29257836">Cream and Bastards</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/karanguni/pseuds/karanguni'>karanguni</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Compilation of Final Fantasy VII</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Sneaky Sneaky</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:34:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>431</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29257836</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/karanguni/pseuds/karanguni</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>'Do you ever think of back doors?' Reeve asks Tseng.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tseng &amp; Reeve Tuesti</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Chocolate Box - Round 6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cream and Bastards</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ovely/gifts">ovely</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>'Do you ever think about back doors?' Reeve asks Tseng.</p><p>By all rights, it's a question that he could be asking in one of the Directors' lounges, the ones with restricted access and where the lights are kept low and the bar kept stocked. Swank, secretive, Shinra.</p><p>They are not in a marble and gold Directors' lounge; they're in a sewer. It stands to reason: Reeve likes building sewers; Tseng likes transiting through them when the occasion calls for it. Because it is one of <em>Reeve's</em> sewers, it even has high clearances and what counts as good air flow. It is a respectable sewer for despicable waste; that they – one the cream of Shinra's crop and the other one of Shinra's bastards – are standing in it only proves the point.</p><p>'I think of back doors all the time,' Tseng replies, looking over with a faint smile. 'We're here touring a gallery of them now, Director Tuesti.' He points the beam of the torchlight in his hand at the egresses and overflow tunnels around them. 'Some of the best ever built, I'd say.'</p><p>'High praise, coming from a professional like yourself,' Reeve snorts. He flicks through the sewer blueprints that are on the tablet in his hands: the sewers are outlined in exacting, but incomplete, detail. These are the blueprints that are published in the Office of the Mayor. The ones on the tablet that Tseng is using show a different layout: one with... back doors. 'I always enjoy giving Turks the grand tour of Midgar's new spaces.'</p><p>'Is it because of our charming personalities?' Tseng asks, slightly distracted as he inspects a section of wall that opens up at his touch.</p><p>'It's because you appreciate urban planning,' Reeve responds, sounding serious because he is. Tseng obviously hears in it his voice; he turns to look back at Reeve. 'Turks understand what it's for.'</p><p>Tseng leans against the hidden doorway. 'No,' he says slowly. 'We understand what urban planning can <em>do</em>. If we understood what it was <em>for</em>, the slums would get more sunlight.'</p><p>That makes Reeve arch an eyebrow. 'That's very progressive of you.'</p><p>'Lapdogs still know what the view is like from the doghouse,' Tseng replies, brushing down his suit. It costs more gil, Reeve knows, than what some slum dwellers make in half a year. He watches Tseng finish checking off the last of the unlisted features of tunnel A-2-D.</p><p>Something prompts Reeve to ask, 'Have you ever thought of breaking off of your leash?'</p><p>It makes Tseng smile and shake his head. 'Have <em>you</em>?'</p><p>Reeve just smiles back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fools and charlatans they may get wise<br/>But only cream and bastards rise.</p><p>- Harvey Danger, <em>Cream and Bastards</em></p></blockquote></div></div>
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